


electric blue eyes where did you come from?

by Shadowcrawler, unwindmyself



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Gen, Pre-Femslash, Sharing a Bed, Team as Family, Unexpected Visitors, oh my god they were roommates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25645180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcrawler/pseuds/Shadowcrawler, https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: As it turns out, Piper and Flint were not the only ones left behind.
Relationships: Agent Piper & Flint, Agent Piper/Snowflake
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7
Collections: Women of the MCU





	electric blue eyes where did you come from?

**Author's Note:**

> Snowflake is herself. This means no filter and lots of discussion of sex and violence.
> 
> This could be happening! We don't know. Why the hell not.

“It’s nice to have someone appreciate my deeply mediocre cooking,” Piper says cheerfully, watching Flint devour his chili. “My mom keeps buying me cookbooks to try to ‘expand my tastes’ but hell, when am I supposed to learn how to make Hollandaise sauce?”

Flint blinks. “I don’t even know what that is.”

“It’s supposed to be put on eggs Benedict, which is a really good breakfast sandwich, but it’s kind of a pain in the ass to make and I don’t wanna bother.” Piper shrugs. “There’s probably a cafe in this town that serves it, we’ll look around sometime once your leg’s better.”

“Okay.” Flint seems about to say more, but the police scanner Piper set up to monitor local crimes suddenly chirps and a voice says, “Attention all units, 10-65 reported in progress at Fidelity Jewelry. Please report to the scene ASAP. Repeat, 10-65 at Fidelity Jewelry, all units needed.”

“Shit.” Piper sighs and gets up from the table. “That’s an armed robbery. I’d better go see what that’s about. You know how the cops are around here.” 

As if by magic, someone on the radio responds, “Officer Jenkins reporting in, I am on my lunch but will wrap it up, over.” Then another voice: “Car 82 is across town, heading to the scene now.”

“See what I mean?” Piper rolls her eyes. “Not that I care about the jewelry place getting robbed, but these bozos suck at both actually responding to anything and also deescalation.”

Flint grins. “Don’t worry, I’ll stay right here.” He holds up his Switch. “Promise.”

“Great. Be back within an hour, hopefully.”

It’s not even a five minute drive to the only jewelry place in this small town, and Piper’s pleased to see she’s beat the cops there. She heads inside, I.C.E.R. at the ready but her other pistol within reach as well. It might be some clueless idiot with a gun, or it might be multiple people. Better safe than sorry.

Inside, she quickly assesses the situation. The two employees are huddled behind the counter, looking nervous, and their phones are on the main floor, slid out of their reach. They spot Piper, who flashes her SHIELD badge at them wordlessly, and one of them points at the third figure in the store, who is trying to break into one of the larger display cases full of rings at the other end. Their back is to Piper and they don’t seem to have noticed her come in.

Piper raises the I.C.E.R. and says, “Hey, you, I have a weapon. Hands where I can see ‘em!”

“Oh!” the someone exclaims, whirling around. 

It’s none other than fucking Snowflake, wearing about fifteen necklaces, including a choker placed on her head like a tiara.

“Hi!” Snowflake exclaims, grinning. “Where did you come from?”

“Oh Jesus,” Piper says, then instantly recovers. “Doesn’t matter where I came from, put that ring back!”

“Just the ring?” Snowflake asks, canting her head.

“And all the rest of it,” Piper says, trying to sound stern. “What - Jesus, what are you doing breaking into a jewelry store? Don’t you have anything better to do?”

Snowflake pouts. “Like what? Everyone’s gone and I’m all _alone_.”

Piper sighs. “I don’t know! Get a job? Volunteer? Make up for all the people you’ve murdered?” At that, one of the employees lets out a (probably involuntary) gasp. “Sorry,” Piper adds, giving her what she hopes is a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this under control. We go way back.” Then she turns back to Snowflake. “Look, Snowplow, the cops’ll be here any second, and even though they’re a bunch of incompetent bastards, I don’t want you to try to explain all your weird butterfly shit to them and end up arrested. Let’s just get out of here and we can talk about this somewhere else, okay?”

“D’you have a somewhere else?” Snowflake asks, grudgingly taking off all of her necklaces. “I don’t. I got outta there ‘fore it blew, but I’ve just kinda been…” She shrugs. 

“Yeah, yeah, I have a place. C’mon.” Piper gestures toward the door. “But put all that shit back first.”

“Don’t remember where it goes,” Snowflake says. “Can’t I just put it on the counter?”

“Please just put it on the counter,” an employee says, the _and get out_ going unspoken.

Piper nods. “Yep, just in a pile there, please. Hurry up, I don’t wanna have to try and explain you to the cops.”

“Can’t I keep just one of them?” Snowflake asks pitifully, clinging to her makeshift tiara. “They’re just sitting here, not being worn or hardly even looked at.”

“Nope.” Piper shakes her head. “Unfortunately if you do, these nice people will get in a lot of trouble and probably get it taken out of their paychecks, isn’t that right?” She gives the employees such a stern look that even if it wasn’t true, they still seem to get the idea and nod quickly. “Unfortunately, capitalism sucks and you can’t just take stuff that you want ‘cause that’s not how it works.”

“That’s stupid,” Snowflake says decisively. “It’s not like all this belongs to them, they’re just here watching it or something.” She finally parts with the necklace-tiara, though she stares after it like she’s having to abandon her own child. “Who’d take something from them ‘cause I took it? The people who it belongs to? If they’d take something from the people just watching it, then they _deserve_ to have things taken from them.” She seems very sure of this.

“‘Cause this country is super broken and retail workers are the ones who get punished when you steal jewelry,” Piper says. “Is that all of it on the counter there?”

Snowflake nods sadly, but then she gets an idea. “Who owns the stuff? Could we go to wherever they live and take stuff from _them_?”

“I don’t know who owns it,” Piper groans, “and as much as I appreciate your instinct, let’s talk about it in the car, alright?” There’s a siren coming closer and she’s getting nervous.

“ _Fine_ ,” Snowflake sighs. “Hope you can overthrow your leaders, retail workers!”

Piper grabs her by the arm and hauls her outside, shoving her in the front seat of her car. “Okay,” she says, pulling away just as the sirens are getting dangerously loud. “So _what_ exactly have you been doing since the Lighthouse collapsed?”

Snowflake shrugs. “There’s a lot of benches in this town,” she says. “So that’s where I sleep, mostly, and there’s a couple guys who sell food that give me stuff when I ask, if I look sad enough. And I look at people. I don’t think any of them know they almost got attacked by aliens.”

“Well, that’s something.” Now that Piper’s adrenaline from the actual robbery situation is starting to wear off, it’s replaced by an acute anxiety about having a literal murderer in the car with her. “Uh, you’re not going to like...stab me, are you?”

“Why would I?”

“Because...you kind of do that, a lot. And you talk about it. _A lot._ ”

“Don’t you talk about your job?” Snowflake asks, tipping her seat back and putting her feet on the dashboard.

“I guess, yeah. But my job doesn’t involve stabbing. You gotta admit, being around someone who talks about stabbing if you’re not also into stabbing would be unnerving.”

Snowflake shrugs. “Down here, maybe,” she says. “So many people here don’t talk about what they really mean, or what they really want.”

“Well, I really want you not to stab me, just to clarify. Also, most jobs here don’t involve stabbing.”

“I wasn’t gonna,” Snowflake says, sounding almost defensive. “You don’t deserve it and you clearly don’t like it.” 

“Okay, good.” Piper nods decisively. “Uh, have you eaten today? I have some chili at my place, if Flint didn’t eat it all.”

“Chil… that’s not a food,” Snowflake says, laughing. “That’s a describing word.”

“Oh, no, it’s like, uh…” Piper considers how to describe chili to someone from space. “It’s meat and beans and cheese and peppers and spices and stuff, all mixed up. Kind of like soup but thicker. It’s good.”

“Oh,” Snowflake says. “So it’s not _chilly_ at all, is it?”

“No, it’s warm. They call it that ‘cause you put chili peppers in it. And those get their name from an Aztec word. Different spelling from chilly too. Language is weird like that sometimes, I dunno why.”

“Oh,” Snowflake says again. “Does it have to have meat in it?”

Piper blinks. “Uh…I can make you some that’s meatless, but it’ll be a little while. Do you care about...cheese? Or any other animal byproducts?”

“Cheese is okay,” Snowflake says. “That’s the stuff on pizza, right? I had some of that. It’s good.”

“Yeah. Cool. So you’re not a vegetarian?” Piper laughs. “That’s ironic.”

“I don’t eat meat,” Snowflake says, puzzled. “Why’s that strange?”

“Just ‘cause you’re so...into death, I guess. It’s funny.”

“I’m into transformation,” Snowflake corrects, sounding like she’s explaining it to a little kid. “Sometimes transformation is violent. Doesn’t mean I like eating creatures. ‘Sides, Earth ones smell bad when you cook them.”

That makes Piper laugh again. “Fair enough, I guess. I can work with that.” 

Snowflake grins - it’s slightly unnerving, but she doesn’t mean it to be, probably - and asks, suddenly, “Where’d you get this vehicle?”

“Uh…” The truth is, Piper stole it from the sleaziest used car dealership in the next town over and switched the plates out with a plate from the junkyard. But she doesn’t really want to explain that to Snowflake. “I have ways,” she says quickly. “I needed it for, y’know, official SHIELD business.”

“What business?” Snowflake asks. “Everyone disappeared, I thought.”

“Not me,” Piper says. “Or Flint. And he’s laid up with a broken leg. I needed, y’know, a car to run errands and stuff. Also I’m assuming when everyone gets back from wherever they are, they’re not gonna have time to come get us, so we’ll just go to them.”

This answer seems to satisfy Snowflake, mostly, but she does ask, “Which one’s Flint?”

“He’s…” Piper pauses again. “Long story, but basically Izel manifested him from the future to fuck with Mack and Elena and then she broke his leg and everything got crazy and now I’m looking after him. He’s a sweet kid. I guess we’re kind of roommates now.”

“ _Manifested_?” Snowflake echoes, looking incredulous. “Since when can she do that?”

“Since she did it down in the temple, I guess. I don’t really know how it works.”

“Huh,” Snowflake says. “An’ how’d it fuck with people? If he’s so sweet.” 

“He’s got earth-moving powers ‘cause he’s an Inhuman, same as Daisy. Izel possessed him to rebuild the Monoliths and create the portal, but it wasn’t his fault, he’s just a kid. I think. As far as he knows, he’s the same as the Flint from the future, and I’m not smart enough to figure out the difference.”

“Ohhh,” Snowflake says, drawing the sound out thoughtfully. She’s clearly on board for this weird twist. “Poor kid, then.” 

“Yeah. His leg is still healing so we’ve been laying pretty low, mostly playing video games. Do they have...video games in space?”

“Sorta,” Snowflake says. “But I know about how they work here. Perks of datin’ a game developer.” She says this sort of ironically, or at least in a way that could be sort of ironic if Piper chose to take it that way.

Piper wrinkles her nose. “Oh, gross, I forgot about that. I mean, no offense, I guess, you were clearly into him, he’s just...a lot to handle.”

Snowflake laughs. “He’s a sweet little disaster,” she says, which isn’t really an answer to anything Piper said. “I’d rather have had him to lay with at the end than nobody, and it did look for a second like it was the end.”

“Wow, straight people are so weird,” Piper mutters.

“Straight’s when you only wanna fuck the one you’re not, right?” Snowflake asks. 

Genuinely surprised, Piper nods. “Uh, yeah. That’s basically how it is, yeah.”

“Then I’m not that,” Snowflake says, almost nonchalant.

“Oh. Oops, sorry, I assumed...which was shitty of me.”

Snowflake shrugs, her gaze drifting out the window. “It does seem like kinda the default down here,” she muses. “Bit sad, really.”

“Yeah. I mean, I’m not, I’m gay. But you’re not wrong.” Piper sighs. “Not that I’ve tried to date lately, because of, y’know, so I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

“Of course it matters,” Snowflake says, surprisingly serious. “It’s a part of what makes you who you are.”

“Oh. Yeah, true.” Obviously Piper knows that. But she wasn’t expecting the crazy murderer from space to know that. “Thanks, I think.”

“You’re welcome!” Snowflake replies brightly. “It’s important to celebrate someone’s unique self.”

Piper’s not really sure what else to talk about, but soon enough they’re pulling up to her apartment. “C’mon,” she says, ushering Snowflake inside. “You can stay here for awhile, until you figure your shit out.”

“Oh, gosh, you’re staying here?” Snowflake asks, eyes wide. “This place is huge!”

“No, it’s like...your team probably had separate beds, yeah? It’s kind of like that but a bunch of bigger units. They each have their own kitchen and a bedroom and stuff.” Piper unlocks the door and calls, “Hey, Flint, uh, I have some news.”

“What is it?” Flint calls. He’s made it to the couch and is playing _Untitled Goose Game._

“Uh, so we have a new roommate.” Piper leads Snowflake inside and gestures to her. “Snowflake, this is Flint. Flint, Snowflake.”

“ _Hi_ ,” Snowflake says, a little too warmly. “Oh, you do feel like the future.”

Flint blinks at her. “ _Who_ are you?”

“Snowflake,” says Snowflake, like it’s obvious. “I’m from somewhere that doesn’t exist anymore and none of my friends exist anymore either, but we were trying to stop the thing that brought you here.” She pouts dramatically. “Sorry we didn’t manage.”  
  
Flint turns to Piper, raising both eyebrows. “She’s from...the _where_?”

“Long story, but basically she was working with the people that were trying to stop Izel, and it didn’t work great, obviously, and SHIELD caught her and had her at the Lighthouse. But she got out before it collapsed, and she was the cause of that break-in I went to investigate.” 

“Piper taught me about how bosses are mean to their employees,” Snowflake says. “So I’m gonna try to only steal from bosses directly from now on.”

Flint considers this for a second, then nods. “I guess that’s okay.” 

“Yeah, so I don’t trust her to not get herself into serious trouble, so she’s gonna hang around here for a bit until we figure out what to do with her.” Piper gestures to the couch. “You can sit down if you want. I’ll get started on that no-meat chili for you.”

Snowflake does, flopping down dramatically. “What are you doing?” she asks Flint, completely eager. “Video games?” She pronounces the word “video” in a way that’s technically correct but just singsong enough to sound like she’s, well, from outer space.

“Yeah. You play as a goose and you cause trouble and steal things.” Flint grins and makes his goose untie a boy’s shoelace, then honks in his face when the boy leans down to tie it again. Startled, the boy drops his glasses and Flint’s goose swoops in to pick them up, running away and honking. “See? It’s really fun.”

Snowflake giggles. “Is the goose just a troublemaker?” she asks.

“Uh huh. I don’t think there’s a reason, it just is. But that’s the whole point of the game.” Flint offers her the controller. “I can show you how to play if you want.”

“Oh, please?” Snowflake says eagerly. “I’ve only played a couple games before, and none of them were as exciting as this.”

Piper laughs from the kitchen. “What games did Deke tell you about?”

“His own, mostly,” Snowflake shrugs. “Maybe it’d be interesting if you were from Earth, but I’ve fought most of the kinds of space soldiers he used in real life. Kinda loses its charm.”

“Oh. Yeah, that would get pretty dull. Hey, do you like spicy foods or less spicy foods?”

“Spicy, please,” Snowflake says, turning around and beaming at Piper.

Piper finds herself smiling back. “Cool, coming right up.” 

“Thank you,” Snowflake calls, voice bright. She turns back to Flint and says, “Where do we start?”

It doesn’t take her long to figure out the buttons, and soon enough she’s happily terrorizing the shopkeeper. She barely notices when Piper calls, “Okay, soup’s on!”

“Oh, here, this is how you pause,” Flint says, tapping the + button. “You should go eat, it’s really good chili.”

“It smells good,” Snowflake says. “Do you have anything to drink?”

“Yeah, we have…” Piper opens the fridge. “Beer, milk, Coke, and like one glass of orange juice left. Oh, and tap water, I guess, if you just want that.”

“What’s Coke like?” Snowflake asks.

“It’s, uh...kind of sweet? With bubbles in it. Here.” Piper grabs one and cracks it open, pouring some into a glass. “Try it and if you don’t like it, I’ll get you something else and finish the can myself.”

Snowflake takes the glass, watching the bubbles for a second before she takes a sip. Then she bursts out giggling. “It’s fizzy!”

“Weird, right?” Flint asks, grinning. “Careful though, you can’t drink too many of those or your stomach will hurt.”

“Why?” Snowflake asks, her eyes going wide.

“Well, first of all, we don’t know how your weird space body handles sugar,” Piper says, pouring the rest of the can into her glass. “And second, the carbonation - that’s the fizz you’re feeling - can lead to gas, and that can fuck up your stomach if you drink too much when you haven’t eaten anything else. Also some people just have weird reactions to caffeine.”

“My space body isn’t weird,” Snowflake protests. “It’s just a body. It’s been good to me, even.”

“Alright, alright, sorry. I just meant like...we don’t know if too much soda will make you like, swell up or get sick or whatever, if you’ve never had it.”

Snowflake regards the glass curiously. “Y’know, I think my biology is mostly like yours,” she says. “I haven’t noticed any big differences.” She singsongs the word “biology” too.

“Oh, okay, cool.” Piper shrugs. “I don’t know, I’m just an Ops guy. I’m not like FitzSimmons with all their science knowledge.”

“I’m not a science either,” Snowflake shrugs. “It’s just observation.”

“Sure. Come on, I’ve got the chili on the table.”

“Hopefully it’s actually on a plate or something,” Snowflake chuckles, but she heads for the table eagerly.

“Don’t worry, I got you a bowl, smartass,” Piper says, but it’s sort of fondly.

Snowflake is grinning like she thinks she’s told the best joke ever, but once Piper is sitting across from her she asks, “Smartass means you think I’m funny, right?”

“Uh, I guess so, yeah.”

“She insults you if she likes you,” Flint calls. “So that’s a good sign.”

“Good!” Snowflake beams. “I wanna be funny and I want you to like me.”

Piper blinks. “Wait, why?”

“Because I like when people like me,” Snowflake says plainly, taking a bite of chili. She’s not really sure why that’s a question.

“Fair enough.” Piper grabs herself a beer and sits down across from Snowflake. 

“Hey, so what’s ‘snowflake’ mean anyway?” Flint asks. “I was wondering.”

Snowflake gasps. “You’ve never seen snow?” she exclaims.

“Uh, no,” Flint says, looking confused. “What’s that?”

Snowflake looks over at Piper, distraught. “D’you have one of those communicators that you can take pictures with?” she asks.

“My...phone?” Piper asks incredulously. “Yeah, let me just, uh…” She quickly googles “snow” and hands it to her.

“Don’t show me, show him!” Snowflake yelps. “Snow is beautiful. It’s like rain, but you can see it and it’s colder and if you’re lucky it sticks to the ground.”

Piper dutifully goes over to hand Flint the phone. “It comes in winter if it’s cold enough. It’s fun, as long as you don’t have to drive in it. Snowflakes are like raindrops but frozen.”

Flint scrolls through the pictures, eyes wide. “Wow,” he says, “it looks so weird. But beautiful.”

“It _is_ ,” Snowflake gushes. “Everything gets kinda still and serene, if you’re lucky, and you can play in it. You can build stuff, or you can play-fight, or you can…” She wrinkles her nose, trying to think of the words. “It’s called a sled, right? That you sit on and it goes down the hill?”

Piper nods. “Yeah, that’s sledding. You can do it while standing up, too, that’s called skiing. Or snowboarding, I guess. Skiing is two long boards attached to your feet and snowboarding is a bigger board attached to both your feet at once.”

Snowflake nods. “Like she said, a snow _flake_ is a separate piece of snow, like every snow is made of snowflakes. Like grains of sand make a beach, only snowflakes are prettier. If you look at ‘em real close, they’re all different, like beautiful medallions sorta. Is there a picture of that, too?”

“Yeah.” Piper searches for snowflake pictures and shows Flint. 

“Wait, this is what that looks like up close?” 

“Kind of. You’d need a microscope to see it though.” At Flint’s confused look, Piper explains, “It’s a magnifier but like a million times, basically.”

“You don’t really get to see the details very often,” Snowflake says, “but you know they’re there. And since they’re all different, they’re extra-special.” She pauses to sip her Coke before asking Piper, “Why do people on Earth say that like it’s a bad thing?”

“You’re asking the wrong person,” Piper says, rolling her eyes. 

“Why?” Snowflake asks. “Do you not know? Sometimes I say my name is Snowflake and men laugh at me.”

Piper snorts. “I mean, that’s for two reasons. The first is that it’s not really a name here, and the second is that it’s meme - a joke that basically means someone thinks they’re more special than everyone else. People call someone ‘special snowflake’ when they think they’re trying too hard to be special. To them, it sounds like you’re saying you think you’re the most important person.”

“But I’m not,” Snowflake says, blinking. “I mean, sure, it’s not the name I was born with, but I chose it ‘cause it’s pretty, not ‘cause…” 

“Oh, yeah, I figured that, but the guys who’ve laughed at it have probably called someone that before to be dicks. That and people like making fun of weird names. Sorry.”

“I think it’s a nice name,” Flint says. “I didn’t pick my name, it’s just what I was always called.”

“Thank you!” Snowflake says, beaming. “Yours is really pretty lucky, then, since you do things with rocks and flint is a rock.”

He grins. “Yeah. I think that was an accident but it’s pretty funny.”

“It’s like if Daisy did something about plants and flowers,” Snowflake continues. “But vibrations are more powerful than those, so that’s probably better for a warrior.”

Piper makes a strangled noise somewhere between a laugh and a cough. “Uh, yes,” she says, and forces herself to think about dead grandmas and baseball so she won’t burst into laughter. There’s no way she’s explaining vibrators to this weird alien and a teenager from the future.

“Daisy’s really powerful!” Flint says, his eyes lighting up. “She’s so cool. I hope she’s doing okay.”

Snowflake grins, a little mischievous. “Boy, everyone around here _loooves_ Daisy,” she says casually.

“Well, she’s great!” Flint says defensively. “Don’t you like her?”

“We haven’t spent much time together,” Snowflake says, shrugging and taking another bite of chili. “But she’s very impressive, from what I’ve seen.”

“So, how is it?” Piper asks. “The chili, I mean.”

“Good,” Snowflake says eagerly. “So long traveling with messy boys, I’d kinda forgotten what it’s like to eat decently.”

“Piper’s a good cook,” says Flint. “I want to learn, when my leg heals. I’ve never seen so many different kinds of food before.”

“ _Oh_ ,” Snowflake says suddenly, like she hadn’t put it together until right now (and in her defense, she doesn’t know how many times these people have been to the future). “You’re the same as Deke, that’s what it is.”

Flint nods. “Yeah, we’re from the same place. It wasn’t fun.”

“It sounded _awful_ ,” Snowflake says. “I’ve been to some rotten places, but usually the ones that were as bad as that had already been destroyed. I’m sorry you had to live like that.”

Shrugging, he says, “I don’t miss it. Piper said there’s another version of me in the future that’s probably still there, so I hope other-me is making that place better. And now I get to learn to cook, and play video games.”

“You do!” Snowflake agrees, beaming. “And I’m sure you are, the other you. You seem the sort to do positive change.” She nods adamantly. “That’s important.”

Flint looks pleased. “Thanks.’

Snowflake finishes her bowl and then eats two more, which wasn’t something Piper was expecting, but it’s more than a little gratifying. Once she’s done, Piper says, “So, if you’re gonna be crashing here we gotta figure out something for you to do. Chores or some kind of _legal_ job or something.”

“What kinds of jobs are legal?” Snowflake asks, making a slight face.

“Uh, lots of them. Mostly ones that don’t involve hurting people. Do you have any skills that aren’t hurting people?”

Snowflake makes a face. “I guess I’m a passable driver,” she says. “Or a pilot. Less good at that than driving, and all I’ve ever driven is Sarge’s truck, but I can manage. I’m stronger than I look. I’m okay at fixing machines, but I only ever really had to help when someone else was doing that and needed other hands.” She shrugs. “I was with Sarge from before the time I was Flint’s age, most of the stuff I know how to do was to do with that.”

Flint makes a sympathetic face. “I'm sorry.”

“My homeworld got devoured by monsters,” Snowflake says casually. “What else was I supposed to do? Oh, I’m good at being a distraction! Screaming, I’m a real good screamer. And I’m good at -” She pauses, looking at Flint with some alarm before very obviously saying, “I’m good at providing special company for people.”

Piper facepalms. “I mean, nothing wrong with that, but that’s not legal either.”

“It’s _not_?” Snowflake gasps. “Why not? It’s legal to do it without money being exchanged, right?”

“Yes,” Piper says, with a quick glance at Flint (he’s not a _little_ kid but it’s not like she wants to discuss sex in front of him either, he’s like her little brother at this point, that’s weird). “But uh...it gets complicated when money’s involved. Which is bullshit, but not likely to change anytime soon.”

“The more we talk, the less I like it on Earth,” Snowflake sighs. 

“Yeah, I don’t have a lot of arguments to convince you otherwise.” Piper shrugs. “Pretty scenery? Dogs? Girls?”

“Haven’t seen a lot of the scenery yet,” Snowflake points out. “Big truck, prison cell. Dogs are cute, though. I see them walking around town sometimes. I like the big ones that look like they oughta be kicking up dust every time they take a step because their feet are so big.” She giggles. “And there’s girls most places, but that’s something in most places’ favor.”

Piper suddenly gets an idea. “Well, some people pay you to walk their dogs. You could try getting a job doing that.”

“Really?” Snowflake looks overjoyed. “You think they’d let me? I don’t have a, what’d Deke call it, a resume?” She singsongs that word, too.

Blinking, Piper decides not to ask how Deke knows what a resume is and instead says, “We can figure it out.”

“Ooh,” Snowflake exclaims, “he did tell me about a guy that’s got a list? Carl or something? That’s meant to be good for jobs and stuff.”

“Oh, Craigslist,” Piper says with a laugh. “Sure, yeah, you can post there. Especially if you don’t charge a lot, some people won’t look too closely.”

“Neat,” Snowflake says. “There are lots of dogs in this town. I bet I’ll do nicely for myself.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Piper teases, but she means it fondly.

* * *

She didn’t really think about how the sleeping arrangements are going to work out.

“She can have the couch,” Flint says gamely, when it’s first brought up. “Since she’s newer than me.”

“Then where are you going?” Snowflake asks, sounding appalled. “You’re hurt. Hurt means you get the couch. That’s how we always did it, me and the boys. It was bigger than any of our beds.”

“Yeah, no arguing, kid,” Piper says, when Flint opens his mouth to protest. “You can be a gentleman when your leg’s better, alright? In the meantime…” She sighs. “I guess _I_ can sleep on the floor and Snowdrop can have my bed.”

“How big is it?” Snowflake asks. “If it’s as big as the ones at your base, we could share.”

“Jesus, that was _big_ to you?” The bunks in the cells at the Lighthouse were pretty much as small as beds get, and Piper hates that Snowflake’s eager face is making her heart do something weird. She chalks it up to sympathy and adds, “Do you kick? One of my exes kicked like a colt, couldn’t share a bed with her without getting a fuckton of bruises.”

“What’s a colt?” Snowflake asks. Her attention span is definitely shorter than the average.

“Baby horse. C’mon, I’ll let you see it for yourself.” Piper glances at Flint. “Night, Flint.”

“Night, Flint,” Snowflake echoes. “D’you think I could get a job walking colts, too? Since baby horses are smaller than regular ones.”

“They usually live in fields and stuff, I don’t think they need walking. Also horses are super fragile and are basically walking time bombs, at least that’s what Nina said.” Saying Nina’s name gives her a little pang of guilt. She should call her, see how the kid is doing. Tomorrow, maybe.

“Who’s Nina?” Snowflake asks curiously. “Another ex-girlfriend?”

“Geez, no. She’s Davis’ wife. I guess her family raises horses or something. Rich people shit.”

“Oh,” Snowflake says. “ _Oh_.” She’s at least aware of how lightly to tread around Davis-related subjects. “Well, I don’t kick. I fidget a little, but only when I’m not asleep yet.”

“Yeah, I don’t mind that.” Piper rummages in the suitcase she’s been living out of and tosses a pair of pajama pants and a tank top at Snowflake. “Here, these should fit you for tonight and we can get you actual pajamas later.”

Snowflake’s eyes widen. “I’ve never had pajamas before.”

“Wait, do they not have pajamas in space?”

Snowflake shrugs. “Maybe they do,” she says. “I always just slept in my underwear, or naked.”

“Oh.” Piper’s brain heads down a path she _definitely_ doesn’t want it to be going down, so she shuts that down right away and adds quickly, “Well, since you’re bunking in my room you get pajamas, alright?”

“Alright!” Snowflake agrees. “Thank you, Agent Piper. You’re very generous.”

Piper snorts. “Just Piper is fine.”

“Alright,” Snowflake repeats. Then she turns her attention to the bed, which isn’t at all fancy, it’s just a full that Piper found for cheap, but it still makes Snowflake’s eyes go wide. “Oh, _gosh_ , you have more than one pillow, even!”

“Dude, stop, you’re melting my ice-cold heart,” Piper half-jokes, starting to put on her own pair of pajama pants and tank top. 

“Stop what, being impressed?” Snowflake asks. There’s a definite little hitch in her voice as she says it, considering she can’t help but watch Piper change and she’s impressed by that too.

Piper notices that, and ducks her head self-consciously. “No, just like...it’s shitty that you haven’t had all this stuff that’s totally normal, that’s all.”

“I’ve just had a different life than you,” Snowflake says philosophically. “Besides, I’m having it now, aren’t I? So it’s not shitty anymore.”

“I guess so, yeah.” Piper shrugs. “What side of the bed do you want?”

“Is there a difference?” Snowflake asks. “I usually just kinda end up where I end up.”

After considering this for a moment, Piper concedes “Not really” and plops down on the left side. “I used to get up around six, but I’ve been sleeping in till seven ‘cause what the hell, no one’s coming to yell at me. That okay with you?”

Snowflake takes a second to process this (she’s still learning to think of time in the twenty-four hour way) but she nods. “I get up whenever,” she says. “We didn’t used to keep a very regular schedule, and your jail wasn’t one that cared about that either.”

“Cool. Any breakfast requests?”

‘I like those sweet ones with the holes in them,” Snowflake says thoughtfully, quickly stripping and putting her own pajamas on because she can tell Piper’s getting ready to be asleep soon and she doesn’t want to be inconsiderate. “But if you don’t have those, I’ll try whatever’s closest to them.”

“Donuts?” Piper chuckles. “Yeah, I can get donuts tomorrow. It’s a special occasion. Your first Earth breakfast in a real apartment, or something.”

“Donuts!” Snowflake echoes. She slips into bed and immediately turns on her side to face Piper, wanting to share her huge grin. “Thank you, just Piper!”

That’s unfairly cute, Piper decides. But she doesn’t have time to unpack that right now, so instead she just smiles and says, “You’re welcome, Snowdrift.”


End file.
